Think nuts are healthy? THINK AGAIN

I've used to bee a fan of nuts, and I know they're recommended on here, but I found some disturbing information.

Part of the reason for avoiding grains is the phytic acid content which hinders digestion and prevents absorbtion of vitamins and minerals. But look at this table which shows the phytic acid of various foods:

Glad you posted this as I am planning to go off nuts for 30 days to see if it helps with my health issues (after I have eaten the bag of pistachios I bought this morning lol). Might try reintroducing soaked nuts after that.

Yeah, they're not the most healthy of all foods, but I think they can be a good addition to your diet. Nuts might be a lot higher in phytic acid than grains, but they are typically eaten in much smaller quantities than grains. Just have a small serving if you want some. Leave them alone if you don't.

Interestingly macadamias and brazil nuts are 2 of the few nuts on the list that don't require soaking. Not sure if it's because of the almost-impossible-to-break shells on those (have you ever tried to crack a macadamia?), that means they need less protection against being eaten, which as I understand it, is what the phytate and aflotoxins are about.

This is good news in my opinion as I think those two nuts deliver the most bang for their buck. Macs for the flavour and high MUFA content and brazils for the selenium.

I think many people here independantly figure out that nuts don't work as a primal staple food. For me, a paleo/primal diet is a key part of controlling my Crohn's disease, and I found pretty early on that its effectiveness diminished greatly the more I depended on nuts. Almond flour was the major offender for me. I still snack on macadamia nuts from time to time and will do the occassional batch of almond butter brownies or pancakes, but all-in-all I'd definitely consider nuts part of the 20%.